Blogging for Change

Financial Literacy Month Make a commitment to change

by Kim McGrigg on
4/1/2010
in Personal Finance

April is National Financial Literacy Month, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Many consumers, some for the first time, have had to learn to live in a down economy. Financial Literacy Month is an opportunity for individuals to learn about financial matters such as developing a budget, understanding credit scores, and managing and saving money.

We have always known that financial education is important. In fact, our financial literacy survey found that 33 percent of Americans think they should be most responsible for their financial education.

That is why Money Management International launched our Financial Literacy Month section. On the site, there are 30 simple steps to financial freedom—one for each day of the month. In creating the step-by-step program, we realized that there are a lot of similarities between the efforts to lose weight and improve your financial situation. Both efforts take discipline are well worth the work. They also take time. And just like a 30-day crash diet does not provide you with long-term health benefits, we realize that a month of financial literacy will not make you financially well for a lifetime.

However, what 30 days of financial literacy can do is get you on the right path. How do I know? In addition to writing the steps, I went through them myself. I discovered that some of the steps were easier said than done (for example, the expense worksheet in Step 21 has 672 boxes!) But I also discovered that all the steps were necessary to establish a financial foundation that can be built on for a lifetime.

We invite you to join the thousands of consumers who have already taken the pledge to improve their financial wellness. By doing the simple act of visiting our Financial Literacy Month section and pushing a button, you will have completed the first, and most important step—making a commitment to change. From there, you can just take it one step at a time.

And rest assured that you don’t wait for April 1st to roll around. No matter what day or month of the year you begin your 30 step path to financial wellness; it will help you to create a successful strategy to better their overall financial position.

Kim McGrigg is the former Manager of Community and Media Relations for MMI.

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